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| Paris In Sites Newsletter Direct From France Edited by Linda Thalman Travel & Leisure Articles |
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Visiting Everything in the 6th and 5th Arrondissements in Paris Mission Impossible – January 2002 By Linda Thalman
We had arranged with Rendez-Vous A Paris
http://www.rendez-vousaparis.com/ a get-away
break in one of their gorgeous apartments.
Our apartment was on Boulevard Saint Germain in the 6th arrondissement just east of Odéon
and and a one-minute walk to the Boulevard Saint Michel in the 5th.
We had a gorgeous three-bedroom flat, with a living/dining room, a modern and fully equipped
The minute we walked in the door we simply felt at home and began a whirlwind
visit of 'our neighborhood'. Bliss, total bliss.
We walked up and down, back and forth, round and round the 6th and 5th for
three days and couldn't see everything. It was 'Mission Impossible'.
Yet, we managed to shop, see three movies (in English), eat, drink, do the 'bio' market
Sundays and Mondays are not easy days to do restaurants that are in the guide books as
so many are closed.
I had read up on them all, but we just said to 'heck with it' and let our noses
lead us to local and - oh yes, non-French - restaurants that were open.
We started off with a short 'to do' list for our three days in Paris: walk every street
We also started off with a very short list of shopping goals – 10 square plates.
Don't laugh! It isn't easy to find beautiful square plates.
But when you've three days in
Paris in a most delightful apartment and all the time in the world to explore,
you accomplish miracles... including square plates - that we found in the 9th!
Yes, we cheated a bit and found sea green square plates by Mongolfier at
Galerie Lafayette on Boulevard Haussmann. I thought 25 euros per plate was
more than extravagant, but square plates are a rather rare item it seems.
The Sunday market we'd originally planned to go
This is not, a 'vegetarian' market. It is a 100% organic market with fish, meat, veg,
fruit, soap, olive oil, cheese, wine - you name it, they had it.
We enjoyed the
friendly crush of people on a slightly chilly morning at the end of January.
Food and drink shopping took up a fair bit of time as my partner had sweet and sour
We ate our way around the world, sampling Greek, Belgian, Lebanese, Japanese and
French lunches or dinners.
We found our restaurants by following our 'nose' and stopping
when we were hungry. We ate a bit early one time, a bit late another or right at peak
times.
At Léon de Bruxelles in the Saint-Germain quarter we had yummy moules et frites.
This is a chain restaurant and there more than 10 restaurants in Paris. Sunday
lunch with a Belgian theme seemed like a good idea to lots of people as the restaurant
was filled with tourists and Parisians by 13:00.
Short on time before a film at 22:00, we nipped into one of the many Greek restaurants in
the quarter and had tasty Greek dishes and wine. The service was snappy as we said
right away that we were going to the cinema in about 90 minutes.
Another lunch took us to 'Shiki', a Japanese restaurant that served us at 14:00.
Monday morning is when one should do museums, which we did, as many small shops
are closed at least in the morning.
We wandered up and down the rue Moufftard and rue
Monge and then heading towards the Panthéon, we settled on eating at
Olivier du Village.
This tiny place had room for just 12 diners but you can get takeouts as well.
We sampled the Lebanese Harak, delicious 'mezes' - vegetarian or with meat,
Lebanese wine, desserts and coffee with cardamon.
Olivier du Village is totally unprentious with wonderful food
and very friendly service.
We had a lovely dinner at la Tourelle, on the rue Hautefeuille, about three minutes
There are too many museums and sights to see in Paris. Mission impossible again.
We greatly enjoy the stunning permanent
exhibition at the Museum of Natural History in the Grande Galerie de l'Evolution.
There is so much to explore at the Natural History Museum - you will need a full day!
Monday morning in late January we were the only visitors to the Cour de
Rohan in the 6th and the Arène de Lutèce in the 5th. My camera's batteries
decided to go flat in the Arène and it wasn't until the afternoon that we
found new ones.
We did the 13th-century splendors from Syria at the Institut du Monde Arabe around noon time,
avoiding the just-after-lunch crowds.
Travel tip – Doing things 'out of order' is really a good way to
do Paris. Go really early, squeeze in a visit quite close to closing time, plan on an
evening museum visit or do a museum at lunch time. It worked for us!
Then there were places we know well but love seeing again and again in Paris.
They included the Panthéon, Saint Sulpice fountain and church, rue Monge,
rue de Mouffetard, rue Saint Jacques, Boulevard Saint Michel and Saint Germain,
Saint André des Arts, rue des Ecoles and more and more and more.
Do come to Paris soon - and plan on staying more than three days!
That is not mission impossible.
From Paris, Linda
Restaurants
La Tourelle
Léon de Bruxelles
Olivier du Village
Shiki
Museums
Institut du Monde Arabe
Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle
Grande Galerie de l'Evolution
Le Jardin des Plantes
Cinema
Gaumont
Email – Linda@wfi.fr
Visit all the WebFrance International Sites
Copyright since 1995 by Linda Thalman - all rights reserved.
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We spent three days - a Sunday, Monday and Tuesday - trying
to visit all of the 6th and 5th arrondissements of Paris.
kitchen and two bathrooms on the 5th floor with an elevator. The view was of Paris' wonderful
slate grey roofs, red chimneys tops, lovely other buildings and the meandering streets below.
on Boulevard Raspail, relax, cook, visit museums, shop some more
and just be tourists 100% of the time.
in the 6th arrondissement. Well, we failed. We only managed to walk round half the
streets of the 5th and the 6th!
to was closed, so off we went to THE
'bio' market in Paris. It's on the Boulevard Raspail where it crosses rue de Rennes,
métro Rennes or St. Placide.
duck on the menu for Monday night. Besides the 'bio' shopping, we found the local
bakery, grocery store, wine shop and other speciality shops to round out our special
dinner.
Our waitress and the manager were both from China and spoke English! We had very quick service
as they cater to the business lunch trade.
from the apartment. This smallish restaurant is quite well-known, so do book ahead and
enjoy the French cuisine and, yet again, very friendly service.
Travel tip – Keep spare camera batteries with you!
Paris
